The University of Queensland (UQ) has put out a call for people who have tested positive to COVID-19 to take part in a global survey, helping scientists learn more about the virus’s impact on the sense of smell and taste.
Nutritional Chemo-sensing Scientist at UQ, Eugeni Roura said the data from Australians confirmed or presumed to be COVID-19 positive would help fill the gaps of knowledge about the dramatic impact on the loss of sense of smell and taste.
“Research published by the Global Consortium for Chemo-sensory Research (GCCR) has found that ratings of three or less on a scale from naught to 10, which represents a significant loss in the sense of smell, is an accurate predictor of COVID-19,” Professor Roura said.
“While it is not uncommon for viruses and other pathogens to affect smell and taste, COVID-19 did more than the nasal congestion common to the flu.”
He said COVID-19 penetrated deeper, causing the death of olfactory neurons which transmitted information to the brain, resulting in an acute and often long-lasting loss of the sense of smell.
Professor Roura said the sense of taste was usually associated with the sense of smell when it came to sensing food flavours.
“Together with smell, taste plays an important part in the food flavour perception that seems to be affected by COVID-19,” he said.
Daniel Hwang, from UQ’s Diamantina Institute, said another GCCR study found that COVID-19 was also associated with severe impairment of chemesthesis, beyond what might be seen in flu.
“Chemesthesis is the ability to feel food’s chemical properties, for example the spicy sensation from hot chilli peppers and the cooling sensation from mint-flavoured gums,” Dr Hwang said.
“This information is important, not only because it is predictive of COVID-19 but also because the loss of appetite associated with the loss of sensing may slow down the path to recovery.”
The research survey can be completed online on the GCCR website at this PS News link.
